• Dragonslayer
• Excalibur
• Time Bandits

My current job.

Many SQL servers use scripts that run as domain administrator. With the password hard coded in.

Several of the various servers are very old. W2K, 2003, 2008. SQL server, too.

Several of the users run reports via rdp to the SQL server - logging in as domain admin.

Codebase is a mashup of various dev tools: .net, asp, Java, etc.

Fax server software vendor has been out of business for a decade. Server hardware is 20 years old. Telecom for fax is a channelized PRI carrying POTS - and multiport modem cards.

About a 3rd of the ethernet runs in the office have failed.

Office pcs are static IP. Boss says that’s more secure.

We process money to/from the Fed.

My wife and i went to Tortola in '99. Everything went wrong, and we still had a good time. If things had gone right, we might have never left.

That said, the off-trail areas of the state parks of north NY, NJ, PA, up to Canada and into Vermont) are where I feel most at peace. A quiet cabin on a lake ten miles from a small town would be a perfect place to retire to.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fran_Capo

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Packing/moving. We’re almost done, but discover another part of the attic around a corner. It opens up into a multi-level mall-like area (but with narrow stairs) full of dining room and bedroom furniture sets. It all needs to be out by morning.

These guys claim to want a degree, but really will take a warm body:

https://careers-tierpoint.icims.com/jobs/2572/operations-technician-i/job

The pay is still peanuts, though.

Hurin Thalion. Excellent choice. I like you.

1978? We had a commodore pet. “Open 1,8,15”. My father had some HP touchscreen thing.

Upgrade was the atari with the ms-basic cartridge and cassette storage. I coded up a database.

Then I had an Amiga 1000 with a real 2400 modem. And then later a beige box 486.

First cell was 1990. I owned a town car - ran airport service. Needed a phone for the execs to show off. Charged them $1/minute.

I was a lazy jerk that just bombed out of the local college in record time. I figured I’d try photography trade school. She was a natural artist with no plan and picked the same trade school. We were in the same 6-month program. She specialized in lab work, I went into product photography. Class started October 1984. We had several family deaths, financial ruin, and other calamities - but supported each other through it all. Lived with family and in the car. Got my life on track in my 30s. Bought a house in 2000, married in 2004, kid in 2009. Now a boring but desperate suburbanite staring down the next downsizing wave and big medical bills.

Slackware. About 1994 or so.

The Dispossessed, The Lathe of Heaven, and The Left Hand of Darkness - by LeGuinn

The Hobbit, The Lord of the Rings, and The Silmarillion

Dune

The Screwtape Letters - C.S. Lewis

Stranger in a Strange Land

I have two.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/1981_Brink’s_robbery Summary: an armored car was robbed by desperate “most-wanted” types. Bug national new.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gilchrest_Road,_New_York,_crossing_accident Summary: school bus full of kids hit by a train. The reason why “this vehicle stops at all rr crossings” is a thing.

“How to Win Friends and Influence People” was published in 1936 and is still useful.

A foot-in-the-door job is colo datacenter tech. I know a major national company that pays about $20/hr and will take what they can get at that price point. Not interesting, not promote-able, bad schedules. But a resume item. Exposure to enterprise-grade equipment. While there, get the advanced certs you realy want and work on networking with the customers and vendors.

VisiCalc

If you can find a new one. They are $45+ on ebay used. None of the usual US sellers has any.

No.